The rules/vocabulary are introduced at gradual pace with lots of repetition.
Easy to use:
The contrasting fonts (type styles) make it easy to see who is responsible for reading what. In this manner, the “teacher” knows exactly what to say and when to introduce which rules, and the student never gets overwhelmed by trying to read text that is too advanced.
Uses "guided oral reading" (reading aloud):
Guided oral reading is the most effective method in teaching children to read fluently. As a comparison, studies show that silent, independent reading does little to advance fluency. (read more)
Coordinated teaching of reading and handwriting:
When children write what they learn, they learn it better.
Many phonics programs quit after teaching long vowels and maybe a few silent letters. We include ALL varieties of vowels, ALL common silent letters, consonant AND vowel digraphs, plus important grammatical basics without which independent reading of English is impossible (punctuation, contractions, syllables, question words, plurals and possessives).
We teach the rules AND the rule-breakers:
Many common English words violate phonics rules (e.g. was, are, one, come, any, never, both, and many, many more), so it's important to know the rules and the rule-breakers. (read more)
Permits teacher-parent collaboration:
Because our materials are on the Internet, teachers can send children home with reading and writing assignments to be done on their home computers. (In the U.S., nearly 75% of all households have Internet access at home. Similar trends are taking place in other developed countries.)
Many phonics programs cost tens or hundreds of dollars. Progressive Phonics is (once again) free. The only cost is ink/paper to print materials. (The books can all be read on the computer, so the only things that HAVE to be printed are the handwriting and activity worksheets, which can be printed in black and white if you don't have a color printer.)
Anyone can do it:
No prior training or certificate required. This means that teachers can recruit volunteers from anywhere, and parents have the tools to make sure their children learn how to read.
No baby talk:
Children/students hear full sentences right from the start. Language-immersion is essential for learning/reading language. Thus, "two birds are killed with one stone” – the EYE is taught to read and decode the written representation of the language, while the EAR is taught to hear the basic vocabulary, grammar and common vernacular of the English language.
Not only because of the repetition, but also because of the giggles. Humor causes more "connections" in the brain to come into play to "get" a joke or funny reference, so students score better test results. Funny stuff is seriously good for students.